That Morning
by Kristi
Summary: Three things that could have happened. L/L,R


"That Morning"

Life is all about decisions. 

Do you wear the pink top, or the black? Do you decide to tell someone that you're mad at them first thing in the morning, or wait until later? If you wait until later, do you then decide that it isn't that important, or decide that you're still mad as hell? 

Do you decide, at 8:47 a.m., in a diner with a hardware store sign out front, to say the words that have danced between the front and back of your mind as often as Bloomie's Semi-Annual Sale? Or do you take a sip of coffee, not knowing that the phone is going to ring thirty seconds after your lips touch the ceramic rim. Will the words die in your throat, washed away in a gulp of black coffee? 

* * * 

Lorelai Gilmore wakes up that morning and puts on her pink blouse, the one that hugs her figure. She notices, for the first time, the sincere tone in her friend Luke's voice when he compliments her outfit. As he pours her coffee, Lorelai suddenly realizes that she's been a fool all this time. She takes one sip, and then another, and opens her lips to speak. 

*

Lorelai Gilmore wakes up that morning and puts on her black blouse and banters back at Luke's teasing tone. His eyes cast over her head to Kirk, selling encyclopedias at the back of the diner. The phone rings, Luke ignores Kirk to answer it, and Lorelai leaves the diner for work. 

* 

Lorelai, in her pink blouse and having taken two sips of coffee, is about to speak when the phone rings. She ignores the funny feeling in her gut when Luke speaks with Sharon, the woman he saw a Tolkien movie with last night. Distracted, wondering where the hell the words "Do you want to go out with me?" came from anyway, Lorelai undershoots her reach and knocks her coffee cup into her lap. 

* 

Lorelai, wearing her black blouse, leaves Luke's Diner and goes to work. In a charitable mood, Lorelai decides to wait until after the morning check-ins before telling Sookie that last night's quesadillas were a little too much quesa, giving the older guests some nasty heartburn. 

* 

Lorelai runs home and changes out of her pink blouse and into the damn black blouse that she should have worn anyway – because it wouldn't have shown the coffee stain – and is subsequently late for work. She snaps at Michel instead of joking with him and is insulted by his reply. 

* 

Lorelai Gilmore wakes up that morning and puts on her pink blouse. At the diner, a complimenting Luke pours her coffee; Lorelai takes one sip. 

* 

That afternoon, Lorelai of the black blouse politely asks Sookie to be considerate of guests to whom spicy, cheesy dinners don't agree with. Sookie promises to remember next time. In one year, the two women will own their own inn. Lorelai and Luke will remain good friends. 

* 

After being late to work, Michel saps her last bit of patience and Lorelai decides to deal with the quesadilla problem now. Sookie is annoyed by Lorelai's tone, responding harshly, and the two women do not speak for the rest of the day. 

* 

Lorelai wears her pink blouse, takes one sip of coffee, and suddenly notices that Luke's appreciation for her outfit is more than friendly. To precede a ramble, she says his name. The phone rings. 

* 

Lorelai spilled coffee on her pink blouse and got in a fight with her best friend. For the rest of the week, Lorelai lingers in Luke's every morning for her coffee fix and avoids Sookie's kitchen. All that extra time at Luke's provides Lorelai another opportunity to notice Luke's affection, and they finally make that date. When the Independence Inn burns down, Sookie decides that going into business with a friend isn't such good of an idea after all. 

* 

Lorelai wears her pink blouse, is suddenly filled with the courage to speak, and the phone rings. Luke, catching a glint in Lorelai's eye that he's never seen before, lets Jess answer it. Jess – annoyed that he has to fry hash browns that morning instead of, well, just about anything – is rude to Sharon. 

* 

Lorelai places the change in her friendship with Sookie to that rotten day when she was late to work because she spilled coffee on her pink blouse. After the Independence burns down, a hotel in Hartford – where the schools are better, Jackson points out – needs a new head chef. Sookie is too busy with the new baby to make it back for Lorelai and Luke's wedding. 

* 

While Jess snarks on the phone, Lorelai finally directs her babble to the purpose of the babble -- she asks Luke on a date. He accepts, and Lorelai is in such a good mood that she decides that a few guests with heartburn aren't worth insulting Sookie. Sookie decides that a best friend is the perfect person to go into business with. Sharon never calls Luke again, for some mysterious reason. A year later, Luke and Lorelai -- 

* * * 

Rory Gilmore stared into space, a triangle of pancake suspended in mid-air. 

"What're you thinking about, hon?" Lorelai asked. 

The phone rang; Caesar took a message for Luke. 

"Oh . . . lots of things," Rory said. A sugary dollop of syrup dripped on the table. 

Luke thudded down the stairs; Caesar said something and chucked his thumb over his shoulder, towards the phone. 

"I think your top would look better like this," Rory said, reaching over to take Lorelai's blouse down a button. 

Luke reached for the phone. _555-9134? _he thought. _Or -1394?_

"Hey burger boy!" Lorelai bellowed. She was out of coffee. 

Unable to ignore the racket Lorelai was making – as if he could ever ignore Lorelai – Luke approached coffeepot in hand. 

"That's a nice outfit there," Luke said. 

"Um, thanks," Lorelai said. 

Rory nibbled her pancakes happily. She couldn't imagine a better morning. 

~*~ 

Thanks to beta readers Ann and Temma.   
Feedback appreciated at annegirl11@juno.com.   
Fanfic Main   
Oubliette 


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